Alyssa Holmes and Elizabeth Jacoby sitting at a table with a stack of books and a small Gompei stuffie

Alyssa Holmes and Elizabeth Jacoby

Nurturing Future Physicians

Participants in WPI’s Pre-Health Program ‘remarkably successful’ in recent years
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December 9, 2024
By
Mia Lumsden

While ‘doctor’ isn’t the most obvious career choice for someone attending a polytechnic institute, participants in WPI’s Pre-Health Program, a pre-professional program for healthcare careers, have been more than twice as likely in recent years to be accepted into medical school as their peers across the country. 

“The past couple of admissions cycles have been remarkably successful,” says Elizabeth Jacoby, who has led pre-health advising at WPI since 2015 and currently serves as the director of academic advising operations. 

Ninety percent of applicants from WPI’s Pre-Health Program were accepted into medical schools in the most recent application cycle. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the national acceptance rate was 41.9 percent between 2021 and 2024.

The United States isn’t training enough new doctors to adequately care for our future population. Many Baby Boomers are retiring from long medical careers at the same time that the nation as a whole is getting older and sicker. As a result, the AAMC projects that the U.S. will face a shortfall of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036.

As advisors in WPI’s Pre-Health Program, Jacoby and her colleague Alyssa Holmes, assistant director of academic advising, play an important role in supporting students on the path toward careers in healthcare. They attribute the success of medical school applicants from WPI to several factors.

“Our understanding of the criteria needed for medical school acceptance combined with the relationships we build with students during their time at WPI allows us to advise them successfully on the medical school application process,” Holmes says. “In addition, our students are really collaborative, which comes from their project-based learning and their involvement in student organizations such as Mu Sigma Delta, WPI’s Pre-Health Society. They enjoy working together and supporting one another through the application process.”

In addition, nine faculty members from disciplines across campus are active on the Pre-Health Committee, providing students a wealth of resources, including mentorship and advice on being a successful applicant. 

WPI students from any discipline can participate in the Pre-Health Program. This allows students opportunities to explore their academic interests and become experts in their areas of study while simultaneously completing the prerequisites for medical school or other health programs. 

Both Jacoby and Holmes emphasize that there is no single “correct” path to follow or “best” major to choose to get into medical school. “The best major to pursue is one you’re most excited about, because you’re most likely to excel when you’re really engaged and interested in the material,” Jacoby says. “If you’re going to thrive in a major that you love, go for it.”

The best major to pursue is one you’re most excited about, because you’re most likely to excel when you’re really engaged and interested in the material.
  • Elizabeth Jacoby
  • Director of Academic Advising Operations

That piece of advice resonated with Hope Hutchinson ’23, who completed a double major in biology and biotechnology and professional writing.

Now in her first year at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNECOM), Hutchinson says she is “grateful every day” that she studied professional writing in addition to a STEM field. Of course, her strong writing helped her application stand out during the medical school admissions process, but the skills she learned go far beyond the written word. 

“Earning that degree taught me a lot about how to communicate with people, whether they are colleagues or faculty or future patients,” says Hutchinson, who would like to become either a primary care or emergency room physician—both of which require effective communication with a diverse range of patients. “One of the bits of feedback I get pretty consistently with simulated patients is that my communication skills are pretty advanced. And I attribute that to my writing degree.”

In addition to having the freedom to choose any major, students in WPI’s Pre-Health Program can pursue any health-related field. Most go on to attend medical school, as Hutchinson has—in fact, there are two other WPI alums in her current cohort—but some plan to become veterinarians, dentists, pharmacists, physician’s assistants, or other health professionals.

Whatever path they decide to follow, Jacoby and Holmes say, students in the Pre-Health Program benefit from WPI’s unique academic offerings and structure, especially project-based learning and seven-week terms. 

“Being a physician requires effective teamwork. Nurses, CNAs, EMTs, and many other staff work together, with the physician, to help patients,” says Holmes. “Our students have an advantage in that they are already experienced with teamwork. In our mock interviews as they’re preparing to apply, we encourage students to speak about their teamwork and project-based learning experiences.”

Being a physician requires effective teamwork. Nurses, CNAs, EMTs, and many other staff work together, with the physician, to help patients. Our students have an advantage in that they are already experienced with teamwork.
  • Alyssa Holmes
  • Assistant Director of Academic Advising

WPI’s signature approach to project-based learning is possible, in part, because the academic year is divided into seven-week terms. Hutchinson says that structure prepared her well for medical school.

“UNECOM is on a block system, which is similar to the terms at WPI, except the blocks vary depending on the unit you’re in,” she says, explaining that blocks range from five weeks to eleven weeks. “The pace that we’re learning content is very similar to WPI, so the timing just makes sense to me. I feel more prepared than some students who are coming from semester-based universities, because I know the pace that I need to be working at.”

Supporting students as they learn to successfully manage WPI’s pace and workload is an important part of her role as a pre-health advisor, Jacoby says. “Going to medical school and becoming a physician, that’s a long journey. We encourage students to balance their workload and non-academic commitments to help them thrive.” 

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